Anything Can Change
by x-magical-me-x
Summary: Lily doesn't like James. What happens when together they are sent on a dangerous adventure to the future. How much can they change ? Lily/James & Harry/Ginny
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter. I wish I did, but I don't.

Chapter 1 :

In the school library of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sat a sixteen year old student. This tall, flaming red haired girl with the most beautiful green eyes was an extremely hard working pupil and she was sitting revising from her book, _Moste Potente Potions. _Her name was Lily Evans. She had quite a kind sort of personality with many loving friends. As Hogwarts was a boarding school, she only saw her family in the Summers, which in a way was good as her sister Petunia thought of her as some freak. However, she had gotten over her sister a couple years back. Her only problem now was James Potter.

It was the evening, dinner had been eaten and most students liked to relax in their common room, go out for a game of Quidditch and in Lily's case, do homework, read a book or revise. The library now was very quiet, that was until attention seeker James entered the library.

"Hey Evans!" he called," we've gotta go see Dumbledore, remember ?" Lily pretended she hadn't heard him and buried her face into her book.

James Potter was a student from Lily's year. He was tall, had chocolatey brown eyes and messy jet black hair. There was no denying that he wasn't handsome. It was his habits that really bugged her. He was a seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team and quite an impressive one too. There was never a time where he hadn't caught the snitch and never a time he hadn't boasted about it. He was clever but he boasted about it too much. His head was way too big for his body. His best friend Sirius Black was just as bad and together they enjoyed bullying Severus Snape. This, Lily could not stand. To make things worse, James had a huge crush on Lily and tried acting cool to impress her and I can assure you, it wasn't working.

He shouted her name again and Madame Pince, the librarian, ran to shut him up. Lily slowly got up, pushed her chair under and walked across to where they were stood. She rolled her eyes at James. Him and his friends, known as 'the Marauders' were always getting into trouble for being cheeky with teachers or playing pranks on people. The only one of James' friends that Lily thought was decent was Remus Lupin. He tried to keep his friends out of trouble though it never worked and he was also kind to everyone.

When Madame Pince had finally stopped giving James a telling off, they set off together to the Headmaster's office. On their journey there Lily remained silent whereas James seemed very eager to find out what they were going for. He began making completely random suggestions until Lily had had enough. She yelled at him until he finally apologised and after that he was quiet. Instead he started flicking and messing around with his hair which he found rather cool. Sadly, Lily did not and she walked on quickly without him, hitting him hard on the shoulder with her book as she passed.

Lily was already comfortably seated when James arrived a couple minutes later. He summoned a chair with a simple spell and sat next to Lily. She could tell he had gone into sensible mode, he mostly always was in front of Dumbledore, the headmaster. Dumbledore stood up behind his desk, picked up a hand size cream coloured box and spoke, "I received this box in the mail yesterday. It came with a letter explaining its magic which to you I cannot tell and it said to pass it onto you two. In this box there will be a short note explaining what to do. All I can say is that tonight you will be leaving Hogwarts and together setting off for an adventure. Use your time well." He smiled at both of them, his bright blue eyes twinkling. James was staring at him with his eyebrows slightly raised, "Professor, are you okay ?"

Dumbledore smiled and replied, "I'm perfectly fine. Anyway, I shall give this box to Miss Evans over here who will probably take better care of it," Lily looked at James with an 'in your face' sort of look. Dumbledore continued, "Well, you should be off then. See you in a couple of years!" With that the two were dismissed. They left the office with Dumbledore chuckling to himself and headed back to the common room with many suspicions in their minds and confused looks.

The time was half past seven. Lily and James sat on the soft rug by the fire of the Gryffindor room which was now empty with the exception of two first years playing exploding snap in the corner. Lily opened the small lid. It was very light and the lid was neatly decorated with words engraved in a language they didn't recognise. There was a piece of parchment which James grabbed. Underneath the parchment there lay a row of the three most beautiful sparkly crystals. One was a shocking pink colour with rigid edges and it looked quite dangerous. Whereas the other two crystals looked very safe and even more beautiful. The second one was a soft blue colour with white swirls on it with very smooth looking edges. The last one was sort of square shapes except the corners were curved. Its colour was emerald green, the colour of Lily's eyes. This crystal didn't look solid at all, it seemed soft. James was about to pick them up but Lily smacked his hand and told him not to. Just in case. She took hold of the parchment and unfolded it. There was something written in neat black ink. It read,

"_**Take the pink stone to begin, it will take you in. The blue stone is for harm, don't be fooled by its charm. The green stone is last in turn, you must use it to safely return."**_

"Erm...I don't get this." said James

"Well, I didn't really expect _you_ to," came Lily's harsh reply. She turned to see James' offended facial expression and ignored it, "Lets take the pink stone to start with then, pass me the box." Lily took the box and took out the shocking pink stone. She turned it over, it looked the same. She held it tightly with two hands and a ball of bright yellow light appeared in front of her face. Lily grabbed hold of James' hand feeling slightly scared and confused. Another ball of bright yellow light emerged from the original one and floated over to James' face. Lily used some common sense and grabbed her school bag and the box of stones with her other hand. James copied. The two balls of light were getting bigger. And brighter. The ball was now expanding to make a big bubble of bright light around Lily and James. They started feeling dizzy. They were being spun around. "What's happening ?" cried Lily. James said something but she didn't hear the reply. The pink stone which was bright yellow at the moment was burning in Lily's hand and the rigid edges of the pink stone were digging into her skin, but she didn't let go. Their whole body was now covered with the blinding light that was burning their skin. They wanted to stop everything, but how ? Then suddenly everything came to a halt. The spinning stopped. The light went away and the air felt cooler but they couldn't see anything, everything was black and silent. "I'm hungry." complained James breaking the eerie silence. "We've just been eaten by light and all you think of is food." James couldn't help laughing at this but he knew Lily was upset, so he put his arms around her to comfort her and the silence was back. This whole light business had only taken a couple of seconds but it seemed to them hours.

They were back in the Gryffindor common room but it still felt slightly awkward and not right. They glanced around the room and realised that the first years who had been playing exploding snap had been replaced by a tall girl around their age who they hadn't seen before. Funnily, she resembled Lily.

**A/N : Well that was the first chapter. What did you think ? This is my first fanfic story ever so please review and keep reading ! Thanks. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer : Once again, I do not own Harry Potter. Do you really think I'd bother with this if I did ? **

**A/N : Thanks to the people who reviewed Chapter 1. Please do the same for this chapter. Thanks **

Chapter 2:

James and Lily were still feeling slightly dizzy and Lily's hand still hurt from where the crystals had digged into her skin, leaving two bright red cuts on her hand. She took the crystals and put them back into the cream box, careful not to hold them too tightly just in case.

As soon as she had finished arranging the crystals neatly in their original form, James snatched the box from her and turned it upside down causing the three stones and the parchment to fall out. He quickly picked them up before Lily saw what he had just done. Unfortunately he was too slow.

Lily turned to glare at James who was sitting beside her. What was the need of emptying the box when she had just spent _years_ putting everything in it ? He gave her an apologetic look which Lily found in her heart to accept but she still kicked him hard with her foot.

As James put the content back in the box he noticed the writing on the piece of parchment had disappeared completely. He looked on the other side. There was nothing there so he stuffed it back into the box thinking it was no big deal. There were more important matters he had to deal with. Food.

As James did this, Lily studied his face and guessed they were both thinking the same thoughts; What had just happened? Where were they ? Who was this girl and why had they never seen her before ?

The 'Lily look alike' sat in the corner of the room and because she was sitting in a position in which she could not see Lily and James unless she turned, she obviously hadn't noticed them yet.

Whilst James rummaged in his bag for something to eat, Lily got up and walked over to talk to the girl sitting in the corner. She looked a lot like herself though she had more freckles and brown eyes instead of green.

"Excuse me, are you new here ? What's your name ?" Lily asked her.

"Me ? Nope I've been at Hogwarts for nearly six years. I'm Ginny Weasley by the way. Are you new here because I've never seen you around either, what's your name ?"

"Lily Evans. That's James Potter over there" said Lily, indicating James.

Ginny just stared at Lily, saying nothing.

"We're in our seventh year now and I don't think I've seen you before either. That's strange" continued Lily, slightly puzzled to why Ginny was staring at her awkwardly.

"Yup. That sure is strange," came Ginny's reply. "This isn't a joke is it ?" she asked.

"Er...no. Why do you ask and why are you staring at me like that ?" asked Lily who felt Ginny knew a lot that she didn't.

Ginny turned to look at James who was so engrossed in his chocolates that he was hardly paying any attention to the conversation.

"He looks just like Harry" said Ginny to herself.

"Who's Harry?"

"You don't know him...yet. If only I could take you to Dumbledore." she replied, again talking more to herself than to Lily.

Lily thought this was a great idea. He's the one who started all of this, so he should help them and end it.

"Why don't you take us to Dumbledore then?" she asked.

"I would, but he's dead."

"Wha-"

"Can't you shut up for a minute?" Ginny cut across her. Feeling guilty that she had just spoken rudely to Harry's future parents she apologised at once.

"There is a way, I guess. It might be difficult. I could ask the others to help.." continued Ginny.

"You could also start by telling me what you're talking about." suggested Lily. But before she could ask for a reply Ginny had hurried out of the common room with a sudden thought. She called out, " Wait there, I'll be back in a sec." And with that she was gone.

James had finally finished eating and as he had only payed attention to parts of the conversation he had no idea what had happened. He walked over to Lily who was sitting in an armchair with her head in her hands, with a peculiar expression on her face. He knew that look. She was definitely angry. Probably annoyed with the other girl. One thing was for sure, Lily Evans hated not knowing things. She was always top of the class and was used to others asking her the questions. Not her begging others to tell her something.

To simplify it, her mood wasn't a good one. James didn't know what to do. Should he ask her what's wrong, or would that make her mood worse ? By the time he had decided, Ginny had returned to the common room along with a tall, round faced boy by her side.

"Back again!" she called, running towards both of them. Lily stood up. "Well, I don't know how but you've come to the future," Ginny spoke rather quickly ignoring James' interruptions of 'wow'. "Anyway, You can't talk to Dumbledore obviously but you can speak to his portrait in the Headmaster's office !" The problem is getting you both in there. "So Neville and I will have to cause some sort of diversion, allowing you some time to speak to Professor Dumbledore!" said Ginny expecting an appreciative reaction.

"That's all a great idea, but what do you mean Dumbledore's dead ?" Lily asked, instead.

Ginny's face changed from an optimistic, cheerful one to an upsetting and mournful face. She looked at Lily and replied, "Well, everything has changed in our time. Voldemort's back in power, he has more more followers now to torture us all. Life in our time is _pretty_ harsh. So Dumbledore was killed last year by one of the teachers here who's a death eater and now the headmaster here, the greasy git." Anger appeared in her face as she spoke.

"Do we know him?" asked Lily who was shocked. Dumbledore's death seemed impossible.

"I doubt it. His name is Snape. Severus Snape." came the answer. Lily let out a sharp gasp when she heard this. Her eyes were swelling up with tears , she couldn't hold them in and before she knew it, they were strolling down her pale face like a stream of water and she sat back down on the armchair. Once again, unhappy, confused and in shock.

James was also quite surprised. He had always hated Snape, from the day he met him on the Hogwarts express, he had hated him. He also knew that there was a good chance of him going to the dark side, after all he hung around with all the 'death eaters to be'. But Lily had liked him, trusted him and they had been best friends until Snape had called her a mudblood which she believed was an accident. Was it the same Severus, that Lily knew ?

James went and sat on the edge of Lily's chair and put his arms around her, trying to be friendly, but she pushed him away asking him to leave.

An hour had passed when Lily had finally pulled herself together. She saw Ginny, James and Neville on the other side of the common room, talking quietly amongst themselves. They were planning how they were to cause the diversion.

Lily went over to join them and contributed to the suggestions being made. That's when James remembered that he had his bag with him. In his bag he always kept the Marauders' Map, his precious invisibility cloak and the latest pranks and tricks he had invented with Sirius, to try on people.

From his bag he took out a hand sized wooden box. He murmured a spell under his breath and tapped the box with his wand. At that moment the box opened, revealing strange looking items. The box was tiny but when James put his hand in, his whole arm managed to fit in. He shuffled things around searching for something in the box and eventually pulled out three packets of green seeds.

They looked at the packets awkwardly. How would seeds help them ? Ginny however knew this was probably a strange, but good idea as her twin brothers were always coming up with weird inventions, that always came handy in some way. She guessed that James enjoyed doing the similar thing.

"This," He told them, picking up the packets and smiling, "is quicksand. We'll need to put water in it and simply spill it on the corridor you wish to attack. The seeds will turn to quicksand and spread. It will camouflage into the floor, so nobody will even notice it's there until they walk over it!" He finished proudly.

"How will we take everyone out of the quicksand?" asked Neville, speaking for the first time.

"Add a few drops of water and the quicksand will turn back to green seeds, it's completely spell proof so only we will know how to stop it."

James looked up to see three smiling faces nodding in agreement. Even Lily seemed impressed with the idea, so naturally, this had made James' day.

"Come on, we should do this and get it done with quickly as possible. Most people will still be in the great hall for dinner, so we could do it now." said Ginny, "We'll have to make sure nobody sees us, or we can get in big trouble. Or worse, they would find you two and trust me, you do not want to draw attention to yourselves."

Then James remembered something else. The Marauders Map and his invisibility cloak. He took them out of his bag and showed his two of his most prized possessions to the the others. Normally if he had shown someone they would've been quite surprised, but Ginny and Neville weren't.

"This map shows where everyone in Hogwarts is! It'll probably come to use."

"We know, we've seen and used the map and your invisibility cloak before, but yes, it will be very useful." came Ginny's reply.

James was puzzled. They might have seen an invisibility cloak before, even though they were extremely rare, but how had they seen the map ? Only the Marauders had ever used it.

Neville saw his puzzled face and told him that Dumbledore would explain everything to them once they're there.

Ginny hid James' and Lily's belongings and the crystals in case someone else came into the room while they were gone. With the map in James' hands, the seeds in a plastic container with Lily and the cloak draped over the two of them, they left the common room, following Neville and Ginny.

On their way, Lily and James saw the same portraits they were used to, hanging on the walls in a disorderly fashion and greeting them as they passed. The map told them that Snape was just around the corner so Neville and Ginny were pulled under the cloak. They had to crouch down so the cloak covered their feet as well. They heard Snape say the password of the Headmaster's office and remembered it.

They had to wait until Snape had left his office and when he had finally come out and was walking past them, Lily had to stop herself from calling out his name. He had the same features since she had last seen him a couple of days ago, though now it seemed like years had gone by since they had left their time, which in a way was true.

When Snape was gone and the coast was clear, Neville and Ginny set out the camouflaged quicksand and then followed Lily and James, who had headed for the gargoyles guarding the entrance to the office. Lily said the password and the gargoyle sprang to life and jumped aside.

The four of them ran up the spiral staircase and opened the office door. Lily used her wand for light as they entered the silent office.

It was a beautiful circular room with the Headmaster's desk in the middle. They walked farther into the room and looked up at the walls behind the desk.

The patched and ragged Sorting Hat sat in the corner of a shelf, not to be used till next term. Next to it was a glass case that contained a magnificent silver sword with large rubies in the handle. It was the sword that had once belonged to Godric Gryffindor, the founder of their house.

The room was lined with portraits of previous Headmasters and Mistresses of Hogwarts, some asleep and some following them with their eyes as they walked around the office.

There was no need to search for the portrait they were looking for as Dumbledore's picture was the largest there and hung in the centre, higher than the rest.

They looked up to see Dumbledore's cheerful face smiling down at them, his eyes twinkling.


End file.
